Help me out here ref. statins

I've been involved in debate on a forum about the proposed move to prescribe statins to everyone over a certain age in the uk. My main gripe being the focus on treatment of illnesses now rather than actually curing them. I've been hit with the following reply and in all honesty, I'm not quite sure where to go with it! This is a guy who is suffering from familial hypercholesterolaemia. I've been agreeing that yes, statins are a necessary part of his treatment but that a move to a paleo diet will have a great effect on things also. I had ended my last post referring to the cholesterol con and the money being made off the back of it.

"I'm sorry, but that is utter nonsense. LDL Cholesterol in particular is of vital importance in preventing cardiovascular events and will have exponentially greater impact that your Paleo diet.

By all means stress the benefits of your diet, which has limited clinical evidence and no real outcomes, but please don't downplay the factual, proven benefits that statins provide. These drugs save many, many lives.

As for this myth about them only being prescribed because they make money for big pharma, it's nonsense. Simvastatin and atorvastatin (which account for about 95% of all statin prescriptions) are both 'off patent', which means they can be manufactured by anyone, prescribed generically and cost the NHS next to nothing.

For example, problably the most widely prescribed statin dose is Simvastatin 40mg, which costs the NHS around £1 a month. I'd say being a publisher of the paleo diet is more lucrative - although I'd guarantee it saves less lives."

Do what you love and do it often. If you don't like something, change it. if you don't like your job, quit. If you don't have enough time, stop watching tv. If you are looking for the love of your life, stop, they will be waiting for you when you start doing the things you love. Stop over analyzing, life is simple. When you eat, appreciate every last bite. Some opportunities only come once, seize them.

high cholesterol is not a disease. there is zero proof that it causes heart disease. correlation does not equal causation. doctors prescribe statins to plenty of people who do not have heart disease. they are prescribing pills for people who aren't sick.

further, studies link higher incidence of diabetes and stroke for women on statins.

As I ate the oysters with their strong taste of the sea and their faint metallic taste that the cold white wine washed away, leaving only the sea taste and the succulent texture, and as I drank their cold liquid from each shell and washed it down with the crisp taste of the wine, I lost the empty feeling and began to be happy and to make plans.

When people claim their beliefs are backed by a mountain of scientific evidence, they're almost always bluffing. Ask him for links to studies showing the "factual, proven benefits" and let him stumble around like a fool. If he's actually proactive and manages to find one, tear the study apart. It's not too hard.

All the studies I have seen show that statins DO lower cholesterol. What they DON'T show is that they have any positive effect on lifespan, except in the case of elderly males who have already had a heart attack. They're especially worthless on women.

Frankly, I'd choose living longer with high cholesterol numbers over dying sooner with an awesome total cholesterol number posted in my obituary.

Statins have not been proven to reduce the risk of heart disease nor is there any proof that high cholesterol causes heart disease. Around 50% of people dying from heart attacks and strokes have normal to low cholesterol.

Something you should research is the Jupiter Study and the fraud behind how they manipulated the statistics to make the statins appear effective.

Also bring up the fact that statins are well known for causing heart failure by depleting CoQ10 leading to a loss of ATP to the heart muscle. This in turn causes the heart muscle to deteriorate. I put up some links on post #8 here:

Statins lower all cholesterol and therefore do away with the good as well as the bad. What we need in the UK is for doctors to understand exactly what it does and show us our actual split numbers so that we can make informed decisions on what to do about any possible problems.

Why use a sledge hammer to crack a nut when a steam roller is even more effective, and, is fun to drive.

Article on Statins

Personally the only way I would ever consider taking statin drugs would be if I was diagnosed with the fairly rare genetic problem that sends a persons cholesterol skyrocketing.

I didnt appreciate everyone's viewpoint on Statins so I looked on the net to see what you guys were talking about and came across this article and what a surprise. Not only that I had no idea how much the UK NHS was spending on these drugs, someone is getting rich.